"Welcome to Risa, rose of the galaxy!" Garak announced expansively.  "But this Risa, not being in a holosuite, has thorns."
     As Julian struggled against Garak's grip, the door slid closed, and he knew he was caught.  Garak didn't release him until he had put a security voice lock on the door.  He watched
Bashir try to open it for a moment with an amused expression on his grey face.  Julian kicked the door in frustration.
     "Now, now, doctor, keep your temper.  Anyone would think you didn't want to be here."
     "I don't want to be here, Garak.  I'd rather be almost anywhere else."
     "Almost, doctor?  Then there's some hope for me yet?"  Garak spoke so sarcastically that Julian knew nothing he could say would make any difference.  He remained silent, waiting.  "No questions, doctor?  Don't you want to know what I'm going to do with you this time?"
     "Probably just what you did last time," Julian said insolently, standing with his back to the wall.  Before him was a bed equipped with handcuffs at the corners; another pair of cuffs
hung from a pulley attached to the ceiling, and a box of restraints and other equipment stood on the floor by the bed.  He didn't relish being attached to any of them.  Although he had
less than a ghost of a chance in a struggle with Garak, maybe he could inflict some damage if he used the wall to brace himself.  Garak was thinking the same thing.
     "Come here, my slave," Garak ordered coldly.  "I want to see you in your outfit."
     "I don't have it on anymore," Julian said without moving.  He didn't relish the moment when Garak found out he was wearing no underwear at all.  "And I'm not a slave."
     "Are you sure?" Garak asked, approaching him.
     "Perfectly," Bashir snapped.
     Garak's attack came so quickly that Julian had time for only one good kick before he was pinned in the tailor's strong arms.  Garak wrestled him to the bed and cuffed his hands behind his back.  Julian was glad to see Garak bend to rub his knee where the doctor had kicked it, but he wasn't glad to remark that the Cardassian looked even angrier than before.  Garak pulled
Julian's boots and pants off with little ceremony, pausing to laugh when he noticed the absence of underwear.
     "You'd rather wear nothing than my little concoction, I see," he said.  "Very well, this time you get to wear nothing.  See how indulgent I am despite your disobedience?"
     Julian certainly didn't want to tell him the true fate of his g-string, so he kept silent until Garak grabbed him by the ankles.  When he tried to lash out with his feet, Garak twisted
one so severely that he grunted in pain and abruptly gave up the struggle.  When his ankles were cuffed to the corners of the bed, he felt his hands being released, but that did him little good. Soon his shirt had been removed and his arms were also spread and bound.
     Julian looked around as much as he could.  The room certainly did resemble his holo simulation of Risa.  Amazingly, this wasn't a holosuite, but a disused room in the habitat ring.
Garak must have gone to a lot of trouble to create this scene.  The very ostentatiousness of it was frightening; if Garak had worked so long and hard to set this scene, he must expect quite a
bit of satisfaction from it.  Julian had thought he was waiting for Garak to come to the infirmary or his room and demand his favors.  That thought had been rather exciting.  But what Garak
had actually been planning was another elaborate drama like those played out in the holosuite, in which Julian was unlikely to have any say about what went on.  At least Garak had promised not to use the whip or the seven gates of hell.
     Something tickled his buttocks and travelled up his back to his shoulder.  He turned his head, trying to get a look at it, and when he saw the knotted strands of the whip, he gasped aloud.  "Garak, you said you wouldn't beat me!"
     Garak's laugh came from somewhere behind him.  "I changed my mind.  You do have a choice, however.  You can invite me to fuck you senseless first, and then maybe your punishment won't be so severe."
     Julian repented of having punished Garak's nipples so mercilessly the night before.  He grasped at the straw that was offered him.  "Yes, Garak, fuck me."
     "How do we ask our master to fuck us?" Garak asked, jiggling the whip across his backside.
     Julian tried not to hear his own frightened voice.  "Please fuck me, master."
     "Very well," Garak said generously, as if he were granting a great boon, "I will."
     Relieved to feel Garak applying lubrication, Julian tried to relax and remember how excited he had felt the last time Garak had done this.  No matter how he tried, he felt miserable; this
was not his idea.
     When Garak spread him and pushed slowly in, Julian felt a sudden bolt of pleasure rush through his insides.  His cock started to stand up.  He felt humiliated; all Garak had to do was
tie him down and rape him and his body responded with arousal, even if his mind didn't.  But something was different: Garak's hands caressed him this time, firmly stroking his back and sides, reaching underneath to slide along his shaft and brush against his nipples.  He felt the Cardassian's hot breath against his shoulder, and then his tongue.  When Garak's lips touched
Julian's neck, nibbling a trail to his ear, a thrill passed through him, warming him all over.  Without ceasing to touch him tenderly, Garak thrust in faster and deeper, and before long,
Julian was writhing in ecstacy, long past worrying about his pride.  Julian had come and was stiff again by the time Garak had come once.
     He wondered why Garak had been so gentle with him, like a lover instead of a would-be master--was this the only way a Cardassian could show affection, when his lover was bound and helpless to respond?  Was Garak starting to feel something for him?  Despite his apprehension about the whip, Julian felt almost affectionate towards his captor.  He wondered if Garak felt that way, too.  Would he release Julian from his bonds so that they could make love like two equals instead of as master and slave?
     Abruptly, Garak reached around and felt Julian's hardness.  "Splendid, doctor--or should I say slave?  You really are responding beautifully."
     "You should say Julian," said Julian automatically, wishing immediately that he'd kept his mouth shut when he heard Garak's changed tone.
     "Oh, I don't think you're really in any position to insist on being treated with respect.  Here you are, a doctor and a Star Fleet officer--lieutenant, junior grade, isn't it?--and you're
mine.  You're utterly at my mercy, and I can toy with you as I please.  Think about that the next time you're in the infirmary playing god.  Think about being helpless under me, wondering if
I'll let you come, wondering if I'll whip you--which I am about to do, never fear.  And you're going to remember this beating for a long, long time."
     Julian's stomach clenched in anxiety.  He was shocked that Garak would still beat him after what had just passed between them.  He was angry, too, and the more he tried to hold his anger in, the stiffer his perverse cock became, just when he thought it ought to shrink.
     The whip's knotted strands played over his buttocks and up his back, dancing teasingly back and forth.  When they were suddenly withdrawn, he gulped air in his fear and heard them
whistle down to spatter lightly across the small of his back.  They withdrew again and tapped his ass before smacking quickly down on it, harder this time, leaving a slight sting in their
wake.
     "You can see that I'm giving you a chance to get used to it, slave, instead of starting out like this."  Garak illustrated that comment with a cruel blow to Julian's back that seemed to
light his skin on fire.  His erection finally withered.  Another blow to his buttocks wrested a groan out of him, and he was sure that Garak must finally have drawn blood.
     "Garak, stop," he gasped.  "I'm begging you to stop."
     "After only two real blows?  Come now, let's see if you can take a bit more."
     "No!"  Julian writhed pitifully as the lashes raked like claws across his upper thighs and then his buttocks again.  The lashes came down against his shoulders and back, driving the air
out of his lungs.  There was a pause while he gasped for breath.  With his face buried in the sheets, Julian didn't bother wondering why Garak had stopped: he knew it could only be to
torment him with uncertainty.  Then he heard a familiar voice.
     "I'm so glad I've finally found you, Garak," Nerys said furiously.  "I don't care about your threats anymore--I'm going to make you pay for everything you've done to Julian."
     "Now, Major, the doctor and I are only playing a little game."  He backed up slowly, moving into Bashir's sight.
     As Julian raised his exhausted head and tried to protest, he heard Kira's hard-edged laughter.  "A game?" she cried.  "He's covered with welts!  He's bleeding!  He can hardly lift his head.  You call that a game?  I call it torture, and if you give me the least excuse, I'll gladly stun you and carry you to the brig on an antigrav like a piece of cargo.  Now, drop the whip."
     "All right, Major," Garak said with palpable disappointment.  "Here it is.  You can try it on him yourself.  Who knows?  You might enjoy it."
     Julian cringed as he heard a phaser whir behind him.  Garak cried out in pain and fell to his knees.  "I did what you asked," he said angrily, "so why did you stun me?  Luckily a phaser set
on level one doesn't have much effect on a Cardassian."
     "I have a better idea, Garak," she snapped.  "Put your hands in those cuffs before I set it on level two."
     Julian watched Garak pull the cuffs down from the ceiling and snap them around his own wrists.  He saw Kira go over to grab the rope on the pulley, cinching it tighter and tighter until
Garak stood uncomfortably on the balls of his feet with his arms stretched taut over his head.
     "So, you're going to have him whip me," Garak said conversationally.  "That's what I was just about to do."  Julian realized that this was probably true.  The Cardassian had planned
to let Julian have a turn when he was angry and in pain.  That was his only chance of getting the doctor to wield a weapon against him.
     "No," Kira said smugly, clipping her phaser to her belt.  "Guess again."  She picked up the whip, trying its weight in her hand.
     "No," Garak said flatly.  "You can't."
     "Oh, can't I?" she asked, swaggering up to him.  "I knew you'd like it if Julian did it, but if you were to be beaten by a Bajoran female?  I suspect you'll enjoy it less."
     She loosened Garak's shirt and found that she could remove it completely while his arms were bound.  "How convenient!" she exclaimed.  Touching him only with the thumb and forefinger of each hand, she pulled his pants down to his ankles, exposing his
thick erection.  "Unfortunately, I don't suppose this will flay your skin the way it did Julian's," said Kira thoughtfully.
     "Nerys," the doctor pleaded hoarsely, "let me out of these restraints."
     "Not yet, Julian," she said brusquely.  "You'd only stop me."
     It was true.  Julian had hated being beaten so much that he wouldn't have let Nerys do it to Garak.  He suddenly realized that she had almost completely neglected him since she entered.
Although Nerys had come to rescue him, she was concentrating so steadily on her rage at Garak that Julian occupied only a small fraction of her attention.
     Standing behind him, legs apart, she looked him up and down, making the whip whistle through the air at her side.  Without warning, the lashes snaked around Garak's back and chest.  Garak closed his eyes.  "Surely you can do better than that, Major?" he taunted.
     "I'm just getting the feel of it," Kira replied.  "Not that you have anything to say about how I whip you."  She leaned back further this time, aiming at his buttocks.  He flinched when the
blow connected.  "Better that time," he said, and his voice revealed a bit of strain.
     "Nerys, stop it," Julian said, trying his bonds.  "That's enough.  Let him go."
     She didn't even answer him, but aimed another blow at the back of Garak's thighs, then another lower, giving him little time to recover.  Establishing a rhythm now, she worked her way up and down Garak's body several times.  Except for a few grunts and gasps, he was silent, but Julian could read the pain in his face.  Finally, Kira changed her stance, aiming from higher up.  The lashes seemed to move faster, bounce harder.  Garak groaned with every blow.  Julian watched, fascinated and repelled.  He noticed that Garak's erection was as stiff as he had ever seen it.  Kira readjusted her stance and increased the pace, moving the whip so that the lashes wrapped around the insides of his thighs.  Garak struggled and began to pant.  Kira slowed down now, putting much more force behind each stroke.
     After ten more blows, Garak's legs buckled as he ejaculated powerfully into the center of the room.  Kira had a look of revulsion on her face.  She dropped the whip and walked over to
release Bashir.  Rising stiffly, he rubbed the feeling back into his wrists.
     "I'm sorry, Julian," she said.  "I wanted to humiliate him.  I just had to get back at him for all he's put us through in the last few weeks."
     "I wish you hadn't," Julian said earnestly.  "Rescuing me would have been enough."
     "So he could do it again?" Kira asked angrily.
     Julian shrugged.  "He might anyway, especially after what you've done.  And he'll probably start showing that datachip around."
     "He'll try to do that in any case.  We're taking him to the brig."
     "You know, you gave him a much worse beating than he gave me."
     "He has thicker skin," she answered indifferently.  That comment unexpectedly resonated in the doctor's mind.
     "Nerys," Julian said slowly, feeling utterly exhausted and sore, "give me a few minutes alone with him.  I think I can convince him to end this here.  Would that satisfy you?  Would you consider not going to Sisko then?"
     "What are you going to do to him?"
     "Something he doesn't expect."
     "Promise me one thing," Nerys said seriously.  "Don't let him out of those cuffs."
     "I promise."
     Kira shook her head.  "Odo isn't going to like this.  Remember, I'll be right outside."  She threw him a worried glance as she left.
     Julian went over to face Garak, who was still balanced uncomfortably on the balls of his feet.  A few flecks of blood stood out against his grey back, and his cock was still rock
hard.  Julian realized that his own back would have been laid open by such a whipping, while Garak only bled where the knots had nicked him especially hard.
     "Well, doctor," Garak said sardonically, "it looks as if you got the last word after all."
     Julian didn't answer.  "I want you to see something."  He turned slowly and displayed his welt-crossed back.  "Why does my back look worse than yours after the beating you got?"
     "You know why," Garak said impatiently, "I have thicker skin."
     "If it had been my choice, I wouldn't have beaten you at all, Garak," Julian said quietly, turning back to face him, "but I do owe you something, and then we'll be even.  I'm going to get
under that thick skin of yours, and after that I hope you'll agree not to abuse me again."
     "Ah, this should be good, Doctor.  How will you justify whatever abuse you're about to heap on me if you're not willing to take your share?"
     "I've been guilty of tormenting you, too," Julian admitted, "but what I'm going to do to you now will frighten you more than anything else I can think of."  He relaxed the rope so that Garak was standing more comfortably, and then knelt before him.
     "You're going to suck my cock?  I'll look at the stripes on your back and remember putting them there," Garak said triumphantly.  "I see that you do enjoy being my slave."
     "I'm not doing this as your slave," Julian spat.  "I hate being your slave.  I'm doing this as your lover.  The same way you took me just before you whipped me."
     "I just did that to heighten your humiliation," Garak insisted nervously, backing away as far as he could.
     Julian went back to the rope and tightened it until Garak once again stood unsteadily on the balls of his feet with his arms taut over his head.  Garak's pants, still lying around his
ankles, kept his legs together.  When Julian returned to his position at Garak's feet, the Cardassian was helpless to move away from him.  Glancing up at Garak's face, Julian took hold of his erection and slipped it into his mouth.  Garak looked at him ironically, trying not to show his arousal.
     "Why don't you let me go, Doctor?" he whispered.
     Julian laughed.  "Because I don't trust you.  In a minute I'd be bound to that bed again.  You're going to have to stay as you are until I'm done."
     He replaced the tough organ in his mouth and slid it in and out a few times.  Garak still looked as if he felt nothing.  Smiling to himself, Julian slowly started going through the
techniques he'd learned with Odo, raking Garak's erection through his teeth, dancing his tongue on the sensitive head, swirling and sucking and squeezing and pumping, even digging in his nails, until the Cardassian was yelling louder than he ever did during Kira's beating.  Julian held Garak's shaft with both hands as he ran his tongue around under the foreskin.  When the Cardassian seemed close to coming, Julian bit and kissed the less sensitive
shaft, neglecting the head completely.
     Finally it seemed that Garak was about to explode.  When he shouted madly for release, Julian nibbled his cock with his front teeth, then plunged it deep inside and gnawed it with his back teeth.  Garak yelled as he came, squirting hot liquid down Julian's throat.  His cock remained hard.
     "No more," he groaned, "no more."
     Julian stood and put his arms around Garak's chest, sticking his tongue into one of the hollows where his nipples hid beneath the bony 'v' on his chest.  Garak threw his body back and forth, trying to resist, but Julian held on tight.
     "You made love to me today, Garak," Julian said, biting and pinching Garak's skin.  "You set everything up for a rape, but you didn't rape me--you showed how you felt about me instead."
His tongue wriggled around Garak's nipple, making him flinch and gasp.  "You thought you'd be safe from my feelings if you hurt me badly enough.  But it hasn't worked, Garak.  You aren't safe from me."  Julian switched nipples, sending Garak into another paroxysm of arousal.
     Soon Garak's normal grey color was tinged with pink; his nipples had swelled out from under the bone.  His breathing was shallow; he stopped struggling.  Reaching down with one hand, Julian grabbed Garak's hard erection and rubbed it against his own.  As Julian bit Garak's neck and chest, the Cardassian went nearly limp in his arms.  Judging his moment, Julian pressed his open mouth against Garak's and kissed him passionately, opening
the Cardassian's lips with his own and pushing his tongue inside. Garak's tongue was surprising soft as it explored Julian's lips and slipped into his mouth.  The doctor was moved to find that Garak's tongue was as vulnerable as his own when it could say such bitter things.  He sucked it gently, increasing the pressure of his lips.  Garak returned the pressure; their tongues danced together in harmony.
     Julian rubbed his erection against Garak's, thrusting steadily until they both cried out and ground their hips together.  Their semen mixed as it gushed over their bellies.  Keeping his arms around Garak, Julian slid slowly to the floor, mouthing him tenderly all the way down.  He lay there for a moment with his arms wrapped tightly around Garak's knees and his
face pressed against the leathery thighs.
     "You win, Doctor," breathed Garak, sounding shaken.  "I'll leave you alone."
     Julian stood.  "I didn't need to win, Garak.  But I did need to hear you say that you'd stop persecuting me."  He retrieved his communicator pin from the pocket of Garak's shirt.  "Bashir
to Kira," he said.  "I'm releasing Garak.  He won't do me any more harm."
     "Are you sure?" came her anxious voice.
     "Absolutely," answered Julian, looking Garak in the eye, "or he'll be forced to face his feelings for me.  Or, worse yet, mine for him."
     He untied the rope and lowered Garak's hands until they were in front of him, then clicked open the cuffs.  Garak immediately bent and pulled up his pants.  Julian dressed quickly with his back to the tailor, wincing when the fabric touched his welts.  Garak stood and watched him.
     "I don't understand you," he said finally.  "What made you do that?  Why would you want to kiss me?  Why would you want me to know how you felt?"
     "What made you beat me after you promised not to?" Julian countered, his face clearly showing his pain.  "And what made you fuck me as if you cared for me just now?  Do you think I
understand you?  I still don't know what you want."
     "Nor I you," said Garak simply.  Their eyes met.  "You humans are certainly more resourceful than I gave you credit for," he grumbled, picking up his shirt.
 
 

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